Aligning 2 shapes using a side or two points in illustrator?
Aligning 2 shapes using a side or two points in illustrator?
Question
Anyone know how to align 2 shapes using two points or one of the shapes side/path in Illustrator? I know there has to be an easy way to rotate two shapes and make sure their points align perfectly without doing it manually. Any ideas?
As an example, if I have a triangle and I need a second triangle of the same size to align to the triangles left side. Is there a way to not have to try and manually rotate it to get the exact angle for the two sides to align perfectly?
Below is a quick sample of what I am talking about. The shapes won't always be identical and may only consist of one equal path or side to match with.
Accepted Answer
turn on Smart Guides and Snap to Point
assuming both shapes are grouped, click on shape 2 with the Black Arrow (V)
- grab the Group Selection Tool (White Arrow with the Plus sign) and Click and Drag on Anchor A...
- ...and drop it right on top of Anchor B (press Ctrl before releasing the mouse to help snapping)
- grab the Rotate Tool (R), click on Anchor A to set the rotation point, then click and drag on Anchor C towards Anchor D...
- ...and drop it right on top of it (press Ctrl before releasing the mouse to help snapping).
Popular Answer
The easiest way to do this with an equal triangle is to use Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform
Draw one triangle, select it and choose Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform from the menu. Set the origin point to the top middle, set the # of copies to 1, and set the angle to 60° (to match the angle of the side).
Click OK then simply choose Object > Expand Appearance to separate the effect into two triangles. And then recolor.
You could also increase the # of copies to get more triangles...
Note, this assumes the triangle is an Isosceles triangle (having at least 2 equal sides).